DENVER  The hockey season had just died another painful death on the once-infallible sticks of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, and here were David Stern and Billy Hunter stepping side by side to the mike, telling the world there was too much harmony in their game to send it barreling toward a similar fate.

The NBA commissioner and union boss used an All-Star Game forum Saturday night to say they absolutely, positively had to make a deal, but they didn't put any hands on any bibles and swear that they would. Stern and Hunter know better. Only six years ago they nearly destroyed the very product they're now trying to spare.

"I guess it could be a catastrophe," Hunter said of another lockout. "I would assume if we got into a lockout mode, which we are trying to avoid, I would think it would get very ugly between the two of us."

It got ugly between Stern and Hunter the last time they drove the league to the brink of ruin, real ugly. And yet what happened in the '98-'99 season would look like the ultimate NBA Fanfest experience compared to the pox that would visit basketball's house if it shuts down for business one more time.

"I don't want to go through that," Hunter said.

Not after Gretzky and Lemieux skated in to save hockey's day, only to discover that fabulously wealthy men can sometimes act like the biggest fools. The NHL deserves the perfect storm of derision heading its way, blowing the fringe sport out to sea. Stern and Hunter can't afford to take the same gamble with a fan base in no mood to grant the NBA the benefit of the doubt.

The brawl for it all in Auburn Hills remains far too fresh in the public's mind for basketball to get away with throwing the ultimate haymaker — a cancellation of weeks, months or an entire season. "I would be busy in the midst of a lockout trying to explain why it wasn't a catastrophe," Stern said, "but I'm not sure my heart would be in it."

So that's why the owners and players met Friday, and why they've reported making progress, and why the two sides have scheduled for this week a series of negotiating sessions designed to prevent everyone from looking like the hockey players — their faces squished against the bargaining table's glass.

"It's the opening prayer at each of our meetings," Stern said of the NHL blackout.

These prayers had better be heard. Basketball is not baseball or football. Michael Jordan or no Michael Jordan, LeBron James or no LeBron James, basketball doesn't enjoy the same hold on America. It wasn't that long ago, Stern will remind you, when NBA championship games were telecast on late night tape delay.

The league is just now recovering from Ron Artest's maniacal rage. It is just now getting customers refocused on LeBron and LeFriends, the youthful energy and talent rushing through the sport's veins.

Nobody wants to hear about the "significant differences" Hunter talked about when describing Stern's side and his. People would much rather hear Stern in the role of optimist and prophet. "I think there will be a deal by the end of the season," the commissioner said.

He meant this season, thank God. But there are major hurdles positioned between here and there. The owners want to slash into the length and value of maximum player contracts, and Hunter promises to stand firm against that snowballing cause. Stern wants to stop the fastbreak of college-cutting high school stars with a 20-year-old age requirement, and Hunter wants to point out that many of Stern's biggest stars (LeBron, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady) are stars who never stepped foot on an American campus.

"I don't understand why people still want to force you to go to college," LeBron said.

Stern wants to expand his developmental league, and Hunter wants to point out that Dwight Howard doesn't need any seasoning in Fayetteville or Fort Myers. So no, this deal-to-be wouldn't win any slam dunk contest. Progress is progress, but labor negotiations involving billions of dollars only feel encouraging when the contracts are signed in blood.

The owners will lock out the players on July 1 if the deal isn't done. Even if training camps don't open until October, the NBA can't take a no-harm, no-foul approach to a summer dominated by A-Rod and his good friends up in Fenway Park.

"The reality is there's a big potential damage," Stern said, "because if people think we are sliding into an abyss, that has a huge impact on all sides of our business."

It's not a bad business, at least when it's up and running. So after Gretzky and Lemieux crashed into the boards, Stern and Hunter stepped to the mike to say they would keep the puck alive.

Basketball is stronger than hockey, but it isn't football or baseball. The NBA commissioner and union boss had better make their deal.

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Ian O'Connor is the author of The Jump: Sebastian Telfair and the High Stakes Business of High School Ball and also writes for The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News.